Troutbirder II

Troutbirder II
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Sunday, May 1, 2011

Spring Wildflowers

Ten years ago, tired of the tuck-under garage and the many steps up from the basement to the living area, we decided to build a new house 100 yards to the north in our two acre woods. As the inexperienced 3rd man, on the three man building team, I worked 10 hour shifts, much of it as a "gopher." In addition, in the evenings, I took on the job of saving some of the many plants surrounding our old house. A trench was dug to run a water line from the new well to the old house to mitigate the nitrate problem. In the process, a huge number of limestone rocks were dug up. .I decided that rather than return the rock to the trench, I would use them to build a retaining wall and lay out garden paths throughout the woods on the south side of the new house. Ouch... my aching back.
Year One: limestone pathways, some ground up branches from the city "tree dump", plant rescue from the old property (the new owners were not interested in gardening) , some grubbing of gooseberrys and prickly ash.
Year Two: more grubbing and selective weeding, trying to preserve wildflowers and shrubs, planting hostas and ferns donated by a kindly neighbor.Year Three: Wildflower seeding and intensive weeding plus more planting of nursery stock.Year Four: Read several books on eco-friendly self-sustaining shady gardens. More intensive weeding and additional planting.
Year Five - Although each year would require a little extra fine turning, the north Shady Garden was a success. Many visitors from town and "groups" from various organizations have requested tours. Fortunately, the garden speaks for itself as "senior moments" seems to strike me when I am asked what a particular native plant is called. I have never been too focused on names like I should have been. If I like something I plant it. It's the impulse method rather than the carefully designed and coordinated plan but I'm happy with the result. Since then I've added new gardens to the north (more woods) and the west, semi shade with afternoon sun.
Some of the native spring wild flowers now living in the shady south garden ........

18 comments:

  1. Lovely story, and your long-ago ministrations to these plants still bears fruit. Or should I say flowers.

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  2. Love your woodland gardens! You plant the way I do :) Even when I look up a plant name I rarely remember it... I just enjoy it.

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  3. Really lovely. Its what I would wish for if my woods were similar. My favorite flowers too! I noticed my bloodroots will bloom soon .

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  4. Very nice Ray, the bellwort in the first photo is all over an area i just was in.It likes the steep rocky slopes best.

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  5. It's beautiful, and such a variety of flowers, etc. Nice job, TB!!

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  6. Fantastic looking gardens with beautiful native plants! It is a labor of love I can tell:)

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  7. Thank you for sharing your lovely garden with us. How flattering that folks want to tour. It seems all gardeners respect one another and delight in each other's hard work. We just left 2 1/2 acres of plants (not able to work in the garden any more) but thankfully the young family that now call it home are loving and treasuring each new plant that pops thru the soil.
    Your rock work is just lovely!

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  8. Lady slipper is one of my all-time favorite spring plants. I used to have one that I brought to the farm from the other farm, but it did not do too well here. Too much wind.

    Your garden is lovely. :)

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  9. Great pics. Really nice idea with the rocks. I just transplanted some blood root yesterday.

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  10. Interesting to see how your garden developed. The result is lovely!

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  11. What a beautiful idyllic setting and source of inspiration.

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  12. I love the rock idea and we have a bit of that here. A great variety of flowers you planted. Nice work!

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  13. love the trilliums. and the naturalness of your garden. :)

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  14. You really have a beautiful home and wonderful garden.

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  15. Oh, those trilliums make my heart ache for Giant City Park (S. Illinois)! You did a fantastic job with the landscaping, TB. All that hard work has paid off. Now you can sit back and enjoy it, with occasional weeding instead of intensive.

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  16. It takes my breath away! All your hardwork has paid off-and I'm hoping the back is enjoying the results of all its hard work:)

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  17. I love your wildflower garden - definitely worth the back ache. I'm waiting for our wildflowers to bloom.

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  18. Thanks for sharing your beautiful gardens! And for the reminder that "To Plant a Garden is To Believe in Tomorrow." That bellwort plant looks like something Dr. Suess would have drawn!

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